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Having organised a wedding in December and attended three personal weddings last winter I have a new found love for winter weddings. Winter is such a romantic time of year….

Venues

It’s important to get the venue right for a winter wedding as the weather is so unpredictable. Obviously, it’s going to be cold but realistically, if it’s in the UK, the likelihood of it raining is high! Therefore, it’s important to have a venue that requires minimal time outside. It’s important to consider the guest experience and insure that if they need to walk from one part of the venue to another it doesn’t require too much time outside.

Decorations and lighting

Winter is the perfect time to max out with candles and fairy lights. So many people have fairy lights hanging around that they don’t want any more so be sure to set up a gumtree alert in your area so you can buy them cheaply or even get them for free. Tea lights are a must and transform a room. Make sure you get eight hour ones as the four hour ones will run out too quickly. Before doing that just make sure that your venue allow naked flames.

Colours and Theming

There is a fine line between using the Christmas period to your advantage in terms of theming and making it into a glorified Christmas party! Pine cones are great as they are free (as long as you don’t mind foraging!) and can be used in loads of different ways. I also love ivy as it hangs so beautifully but do be aware that it is actually bad luck to have at a wedding (if you believe in that stuff!).

Photography

Make sure that your photographers have done winter weddings before because I’m told it is tricky to get good photos when the light is dim and it goes dark early. Photographers won’t mind you asking for examples of other winter weddings that they have done. The advantage of it going dark earlier is that you can get some amazing shots with smoke bombs- again, check this with your venue before going ahead with them!

Food and drink

Mulled wine and mince pies seems like an obvious choice and I’d say it probably is! Why not!? However, be aware that not everyone likes the classic Christmas food and drinks so make sure there is an alternative. Bubbles are a must at a wedding and make for a very good alternative. People expect hot food at winter so make sure that you the food it hot and tasty! Personally, I’d stay away from turkey as people have normally had enough of it by time Christmas comes!

If getting married around Christmas is an option, then definitely give it some consideration. It’s a beautiful time of year and people are in the party mood. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you’d like any help or advice with your wedding!

‘Heelo’, is the first social media app to be made and launched in the UK. The creator and developer is Khurram Asif, a 16 year-old A-Level Student! We worked with Khurram to make his two year dream of launching this app a reality, in creating an amazing launch event for him. It was an absolute pleasure working with such a talented young man who is already achieving so much at such a young age.

Heelo combines instant messaging, voice calling and video calling as well as the ability to make group voice and video calls for up to twelve people – the maximum with any messaging app. It uses 234KB less data on a 1GB plan than WhatsApp giving an additional 19 minutes of use per day. This would save users up to 30% on average from their mobile phone bill. Khurram has also built in e-safety features, such as under-18 accounts, profanity and nudity filters to protect the users.

The event took place at the prestigious May Fair Hotel on 3rd March and was attended by over 100 guests including business owners, financiers and students. Guests were able to hear all about Heelo from Khurram himself as well as trying out the app and enjoying a delicious lunch. The event was a great success and enjoyed by everyone who attended. We love Bubblegum Balloons and the personalised balloons really added some fun and personality to the event. Big thanks also to the amazing Heelo ambassadors that played a huge part in the smooth running of the event.

Heelo is available to download on iTunes now, be sure to check it out!

Although the following tips may be slightly more applicable to a larger charity fundraiser, whatever the size of the event, these 10 top tips that will help you to not go far wrong!

1. Decide the purpose of the event

The event you put on depends on what the purpose of the event is, how much do you want to raise or is it more for raising awareness? These factors will really influence the kind of event that you put on.

2. Decide who the target audience are

You need to have a clear idea of who might be coming to your event. How much will they be happy to spend on tickets and do they know people who they can invite? It’s also important to think about what the people you will be inviting will enjoy, eg. Would they prefer a sit down dinner, or a more informal event? Also, what do you need to do to get the right people at your event, do you need celebrity endorsement, high end auction lots etc.

3. Brainstorm and get ideas

Brainstorm. Gather ideas. Make mood boards. Use Pinterest. Get googling. Think outside the box. Dare to be different. Get creative. Be memorable and give the wow factor. Putting on a really memorable, fun event will mean people are more likely to relax, give money and want to come back to another similar event.

4. Set a goal and a budget

Setting a goal of how much you want to raise is really useful for planning and motivation. It is also important to have goals for how many guests you want to attend, how many prizes you want to secure etc. Setting a budget for each element of the event helps you to keep on track and raise the most amount of money on the night!

5. Build a good team

Getting others on board is important to build momentum. When people feel ownership over something they are more invested. Use other people to invite their friends and family, ask for prizes and auction lots, get ideas and use contacts! It is also great to get sponsorship for the event where possible- if you don’t ask you won’t get so be bold!

6. Spread the word

The more people that know about the event the more likely you are to get good numbers and support in general. It really helps to get ambassadors who can invite people on behalf of the event.

7. Attention to detail

Whatever the size of the event people always notice attention to detail! It really sets it apart from other events so make sure that you think about everything from the guests point of view from when they are walking towards the venue to leaving it. It’s worth thinking about all the things that could go wrong at the event and making sure there is a plan in place to rectify any problems.

8. Stay organised

Write a plan and stick to it. It’s really important to have a list of everything that needs to be done from the start until the day with deadlines so that nothing gets forgotten. This document can then be the reference point from which everything is done!

9. Remain calm

Try not to get stressed in the lead up to the event. It’s supposed to be fun and a celebration of the charity so make sure that you keep persective and remain relaxed on the day (as much as possible!).

10. Enjoy and share success

Thanking your donors is a great way to share the success of the evening. People love to be appreciated so receiving a personalised thank you will make them remember the event.

Saturday of last weekend was quite a big night for us at Conker Events! It was the night of “Suzanne’s Big 6-oh!”, a 1960s themed party in Bath. We have been working hard on this event for a while so it was fantastic to see it come together and the guests have a brilliant time.

So we thought we’d take a look back and show you what made it just so 60s!

Babycham

We sourced around 200 babycham glasses which was no mean feat but 100% worth it as this little touch helped build on the 60s atmosphere we were creating, as after all wasn’t it the drink of choice back then?!

Retro campervan photobooth.

This was a very fun and 60s approach to a party photobooth that went down extremely well as it was different to just a classic photobooth.

Mannequins in miniskirts.

When initially brainstorming ideas with the client, our Events Director, Jessica was thinking what was iconically 60s? One of the first things that came to mind (after The Beatles and “Flower Power”) was miniskirts. But how could they be displayed in a fun and striking way? Mannequins in miniskirts! The end result was brilliant; aside from the struggle of ensuring that the girls legs actually stayed on the tables and not on a poor guests’ lap!

Vinyl table plan

The event was kicked off back in July, with invitations on vintage vinyls being sent out to the guests. We were keen to carry on this theme so thought of making the table plan and place cards out of vinyls too, with tables being named our clients’ favourite 60s songs.

Hanging floral peace signs

As well as the mannequins in miniskirts our other feature decorations inspired by iconic 60s things, were hanging floral peace signs that were actually created by our team at Conker Events, out of sports hula hoops and faux flowers! After many hours with a glue gun in hand, the final effect was amazing.

If you would like to see more about this event, please have a watch of our video (below) or follow us on Instagram @conkerevents or on Facebook www.facebook.com/conkerevents for more photos!

Conker Events will be exhibiting at the National Wedding Show on 23rd-25th September and we are so excited! Wedding shows are a one-stop shop for your big day so it’s definitely worth paying a visit if you can.

In light of that, here are our top tips to make the most out of the day/weekend.

1) Talk to the exhibitors

It’s so important to work with suppliers that you get on with and trust. You’ll only be able to suss them out if you have a good chat with them! They’re more likely to remember you if you engage with them which might be helpful down the line.

2) Take loads of photos!

It’s so easy for your hard work to be forgotten so make sure you capture all your favourite ideas. You can then add these to your Pintrest boards to add to your collection of ideas.

3) Go with someone else

It’s great to be able to chat with someone and get a second opinion and plus, it’ll be way more fun with a companion! It’s really hard to make decisions by yourself so definitely good having someone there with you to help you out.

4) Sign up to as many things as possible…

You never know, you might just win something! It’s always good to have a bit of extra cash in the budget so if you can save by winning something for free then that’s a bonus! It might be annoying getting newsletters but they’re so easy to unsubscribe from if they get too annoying.

5) Plan your day

Make sure you decide what fashion shows/talks etc. you want to go to so that you know when you have time to wander the stalls! This will mean that you don’t miss anything that you particularly want to see. It’s worth making the most of what is on offer.